Genghis Con

The thundering hooves of Mile High City gamers could be heard all weekend long as anxious players thumped up and down the massive staircase of the Hyatt hotel in Denver, eager for a battle or two at the locally popular Genghis Con. While apparently a major convention for roleplaying, the main atrium was filled with plenty of ccg and miniature gamers at all hours of the day and night.

Battles were waged in several locations, with an entire section set up for the Train Gamers Association and their very cool railway demonstrations. Friday night’s main event was a huge auction, which started at around 8 o’clock and lasted well into the evening. Hundreds of items were up for grabs, from ccgs to board games. Several happy gamers went home with gigantic lots of wargaming miniatures or stacks of RPG books: one lucky gal took home a chainmail belly dancer’s outfit. Some of the auction’s proceeds went to charity, which made it a worthy cause.

Saturday dawned with the promise of real combat. Seeking to survey the battlefield early, bloodthirsty WarCry players showed up well before starting time to determine the strength of their opposition. Among the players were several Scouts, eager to match wits and cross swords in what everyone anticipated as the convention’s greatest event. The battle commenced promptly at ten o’clock, with the armies of the Grand Alliance and Hordes of Darkness clashing on the fresh field of battle.

The first round was a split victory as Eneasz Brodski’s fierce dwarves rolled over mercury621’s Dogs of War and Goste’s Hordes of Darkness annihilated my poor shooty High Elves. I KNEW we should have worn armor...

Round two saw yet another split as Electrichead’s GA strategy deck wiped out mercury621’s Dogs of War and Goste’s Hordes eked out a victory over Eneasz’s dwarves. Apparently we were so confused on the field that in round three, my elves got antsy and tried to take down Eneasz’s dwarves...to no avail, as those pesky bearded folk slipped between the hail of doom long enough to plant an axe in a few elven heads. The GA saw yet more defeat as Electrichead’s strategy deck fell to Goste’s legions of Dark Elves and Chaos.

The final round saw Goste undefeated on the day, whipping mercury621’s traitorous Dogs of War in a dazzling display of senseless slaughter. I resorted to trying to outwit Electrichead with some crafty shooting dragon work, only to find that when you spend 33 hours playing WarCry with someone and don’t change your deck, you still can’t beat them.

Victory for the day went to Goste’s Hordes of Darkness, with a 4-0 record. The raging evil of the Hordes could not be stopped. Congratulations, Goste!

Sunday brought on a new and exciting prospect-a Lord of the Rings TMG event. Although only 4 people showed up to play, Eric Farnham ran a round-robin event that gave new players a chance to test their skills against one another. A beautiful custom map was available to demo on or play with, built on two-inch styrofoam and flocked. While the experienced players had a few battles, new players were looking on and watching a demo. It was a great opportunity for players from different areas of the country to meet and play what is surely turning out to be Sabertooth’s most popular game.

With only two Sabertooth-related events at the convention (and some stray but fierce Horus Heresy battles in between), there was plenty of time to see the sights of Denver. A trip to Invesco Field at Mile High was a definite highlight, as Electrichead, Goste and I toured the home of the Broncos and viewed their beautiful new in-house museum. Another great weekend highlight was our time at Valhalla’s Game Center, the greatest game store this reporter has ever been in. A huge stone castle fortress sits just inside the entrance to the open gaming area, complete with cannon and standard atop the wall. At least thirty huge tables of all shapes and sizes fill this amazingly large room, which also sports a life-sized guillotine. Store owners Dan, Tim and Kirk-all GREAT guys!- even created an entire room just for wargaming and modeling, complete with wall-sized campaign maps, miles of custom terrain, and beautifully sculpted and painted miniatures. Going there to play WarCry was like stepping into gamer’s paradise, that’s for sure.

Denver is a hotbed of gaming activity, with lots of high-caliber players filling the game store seats on a nightly basis. My hosts for the week, Seth Morrigan (electrichead) and Burt Sheldon (Goste) were more than happy to show me the amazing sights of their town, silhouetted by the most incredible view of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. For anyone who is looking to get away to a decent gaming convention, Genghis Con is HIGH on my list of recommendations! See you next year!